Soldier, 'father protector' was loved by many

Philip Feacher

After the death of Philip Feacher, a beloved U.S. customs supervisor, hundreds attended his memorial service. The motorcade was so long, his son could not see the end.

Philip Feacher's fellow officers were so stunned when he called in sick to his job as a customs supervisor at Orlando International Airport that they planned to send a team to check on him.

Feacher, 77, ended up in the hospital shortly after. He died Aug. 23 of myelofibrosis, a bone-marrow disorder that led to leukemia. Doctors said the condition might be tied to asbestos exposure during his long military career, said his son, Seung Feacher.

In 23 years working for U.S. Customs and Border Protection at the airport, Philip Feacher was known for his intense dedication, compassion and knowledge of the intricacies of immigration law.

"He was the first one in and the last one out," said Mashika Acosta, a customs and border-protection officer who worked for Feacher for 51/2 years. She said officers would do anything he asked because of the tremendous respect they had for him.

Feacher's boss, watch commander Jennifer Schroeder-Fawcett, said Feacher excelled at one of the agency's most challenging jobs, a supervisory position with tremendous responsibility but little authority.

"He was the father protector of the port," she said of airport customs. He was so fair that people would thank him as they were being arrested, Schroeder-Fawcett said.

Born in Monticello in 1936, Philip was the third of nine children and the eldest son. He was the child who never got in trouble, said one of his sisters, Linda Herzog. "He was the one up on a pedestal."

The children grew up in Hannibal Square in Winter Park, attending the segregated Hannibal Elementary and then Hungerford School in Eatonville. He owned a single pair of shoes for church and school, which he took off to walk home, family members said.

He left high school to work as a ranch hand but was drafted in the mid-1950s.

"He said he was going to go AWOL on his first day," Herzog said. But he was impressed that the military gave him more than one pair of boots, a roof over his head and three meals a day.

The Army ended up suiting his nature. After a few years during which he would lose rank for getting into fights, he straightened out and focused. He ended up rising to command sergeant major, the highest enlisted rank. He married his childhood neighbor and longtime girlfriend, Michele, in 1964, and his wife and daughter, Diana, followed him to Germany and Key West.

"He was a strict man, a hard worker," said his daughter, Diana Campbell. "When he came home, we were his soldiers."

Later tours took him to South Korea, Vietnam and other countries. The couple divorced in 1980, and he met his second wife, Kum Cha, through a military translator in Korea. They married in 1982, and she and her son, Seung, moved to join Feacher at Fort Lewis, Wash., in 1985.

When he retired in 1989, the family returned to Florida, and he began working for the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service the following year, checking visas.

His memorial service and funeral were attended by hundreds. A motorcade so long that his son couldn't see the end accompanied the hearse to Florida National Cemetery in Bushnell.

"He is a symbol of working for the country," Seung Feacher said. It wasn't until he got sick that Seung and his mother realized how much of an impact he had made.

At one point, they asked his co-workers to come in groups of five or six because the constant visits were overwhelming.

"I lost a father but gained 300 people," Seung said.

In addition to his wife and children, survivors include five sisters, five grandchildren and 16 grandchildren.